Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Ludhiana on October 18 to give away awards to representatives of micro, small and medium enterprises. Announcing this on Sunday, Punjab BJP chief Vijay Sampla, on the sidelines of the party’s state executive meet, said Prime Minister Modi may hold a rally on the same day too.

“We requested the PM to hold a rally when he visits Ludhiana. If PM gives his time, then we are ready to organise a big rally,” said Sampla. He added that the party had also planned to hold four rallies for Scheduled Castes (SC), farmers, women and youth between November and December ahead of the state assembly polls.

“We shall invite BJP President Amit Shah, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Thawar Chand Gehlot and other senior leaders of the party to participate in our proposed rallies in Punjab,” said Sampla.

Sampla said he had requested Modi and Rajnath Singh on Saturday to allow farmers living near border areas to harvest ripened paddy. Sampla said the state executive has unanimously thanked the PM for recent surgical attacks carried out by the army.

Curiously, out of the four BJP ministers in the state cabinet only one, local bodies minister Anil Joshi, attended the meeting of the executive on Sunday. When contacted, state BJP secretary Vineet Joshi said some of the party senior leaders had given prior notice of their absence and so, their absence was not unexpected.